While the leader of the transit workers, Roger Toussaint, was meeting with a mediator from the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) a hearing on the strike was being held by Justice Theodore T. Jones of the State Supreme Court. Justice Jones ordered Mr. Toussaint and two other union officials to appear in his courtroom at 11 a.m. Thursday, saying that he may sentence them to jail. Richard A. Curreri, the director of conciliation at PERB, is scheduled to meet with Mr. Toussaint Wednesday afternoon. It's unclear whether the transit union would agree to binding arbitration; they have repeatedly spoken against it. However, the state's binding arbitration clause applies to the MTA, along with police officers and firefighters.
See "Judge Puts Off Strike Rulings as Union Leader Meets Mediator", Sewell Chan and Colin Moynihan, The New York Times, December 20, 2005